Uneasy Truce
by Dara Tavar
Summary: Dracula is sitting at home when all of a sudden Van Helsing shows up. Emotions are tense as the two have a stare down...but what does Dracula's statement, "You're late," mean? The two have a meeting, a deal, and an uneasy truce for the night...but what is it that they could possibly want from one another? One-shot (potential for more though). R&R please!


**Okay, so when I found the papers for my HP and latest Grinch stories, I also found a lot more...this was one of them. I didn't have an outline for it, but I did have the very beginning of this story written out. So, I took it and continued on with it until I got what you are about to read. And for anyone whose reading my shorts over the past couple days-there's probably going to be many more short one-shots coming out for a while, since it's what I've started doing on my breaks/lunch at work now, then typing up when I get home.  
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**Anyways, this is my very first Van Helsing story. Enjoy!**

**DT**

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**Uneasy Truce**

Dracula sat at the table, his fingers tapping out an impatient rhythm on the top. He sipped blood from a crystal glass, annoyance on his face.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Van Helsing strode into the room. He held his hands down at his sides, fisted and ready to go for his weapons. His body was tense as he watched the vampire sitting before him slowly turn his head and their eyes met.

Dracula was standing in front of him only a second later, a sneer on his face and his fangs peeking out of his gums.

The two stood this way for several long moments, staring one another down until the seconds stretched out.

Finally, Dracula flicked a glance up and down Van Helsing's frame. "You're late," he said simply before turning away and heading back toward the table he'd just left. Van Helsing hesitated only a moment longer before following the vampire and lowering himself into the seat straight across from Dracula's tall, ornately curved chair. His chair was only slightly less magnificent.

"Put your fangs away; you're not going to need them right now," he replied in a weary tone.

Dracula laughed. "Afraid I'm going to try and suck you dry, Gabriel? There's no need for that; you're perfectly safe. Our deal will be honored, at least for tonight." He lifted his glass into the air, gesturing for him to look at it. "Besides, they always pop out while I'm having my dinner."

"Anyone I know?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light.

"Not tonight, Gabriel," the vampire replied in a distracted voice, looking off to the creatures opening double door opposite from where Van Helsing had come in.

He gritted his teeth, disturbed by the fact that someone had died for Dracula to have his meal as well as the uncaring way the vampire had commented on it. He didn't say anything about it though. They'd made a deal, and he would honor it for as long as Dracula did.

Dracula clapped his hands twice and the horde of tiny, monstrous servants rushed forward, carrying silver trays which they then placed on the table between the two men. When they removed the lids, they revealed steaming hot food that smelled as good as it looked—delicious, and all of Van Helsing's favorites…but still, he hesitated.

The vampire chuckled and gestured towards the dishes between them. "Help yourself, Gabriel. I assure you, the food is just the way you like it." When the man still didn't make a move for the food, Dracula took another sip of blood before picking up the plate in front of him and gathering food on it. "Please, Gabriel, do you really think I would try to poison you, my friend? That hurts."

Van Helsing was quiet for a moment, wondering if there was any truth to what the vampire had said. Finally, he lifted the lid off the try directly before him, to find it filled with a dish that he didn't think he'd ever had, but it looked wonderful. Something stirred in his mind, a far-off memory of the food associated with pleasure. "You're right; from what I've heard about you, poison isn't your style," he said when his mouth began to water.

"If you still had your memories, then you would know first had that I wouldn't do something so low—especially not when we have a deal of peace for the night." He glanced over at the other man, his eyes pausing on the food. "That's mullet, one of your favorite dishes. We ate it together in Rome the last we saw one another…well, before the minor tiff we had, resulting in the fight that killed me."

Van Helsing frowned, thinking that statement over. He mulled about it while he slowly ate his meal, finding that he did, in fact, find the mullet to be his new favorite meal—or maybe it was his 'old' favorite… He ate cautiously because he wasn't certain that he believed the food wasn't poisoned—after all, it wouldn't affect Dracula—so he was ready to spit it out if anything tasted at all funny.

Dracula sat across from him, drinking his bloody and mostly just pushing the food around on his plate. Occasionally, he would take a bite, but for the most part he left the food to grow cold on his plate. "That's the one thing I despise the most about my situation, Gabriel," he sighed, looking over at the man. "I can't eat many solid foods or I get sick, my stomach can't handle it…and these were my favorites as well while I was living."

Van Helsing wasn't sure he wasn't to engage in idle conversation with the vampire just yet, though his statements had raised many questions within him. Setting his fork aside though, he turned his complete attention to the vampire he's made an uneasy truce with for the night.

"We have a bargain, Count," he said, sitting back in his seat as he eyed the strange creatures doubling as servants for the night.

"Will you uphold your end of the deal?" Dracula asked, sending Van Helsing an intense look, as if daring him to say no.

Van Helsing was quiet for a moment, staring back into the Count's dark eyes. "I will."

A slow grin curled Dracula's lips and he sat up straight. With a gesture of one hand, the servants rushed forward again to clear away the food on the table and disappear through the doors again.

Van Helsing watched longingly as the mullet was taken away from him.

The vampire chuckled. "I will have them wrap that dish and you can take it with you." When he received an untrusting look in response, Dracula chuckled again. "It will be perfectly safe. You have my word."

"The word of a vampire?"

"There was a time when you would take my word over most anything else in the world," he replied, a hint of sadness in his tone.

He wanted to ask about the statement, but thought he should wait on it. As the last creature disappeared and pulled the doors closed behind him, he wished he was among them. He didn't want to be alone with his enemy, but there was just too much at stake for him to give up this chance. When the sun appeared in the sky the next morning, their truce would be void and he would be at the Count's mercy should he still be in the castle. He needed to get down to business.

"Would you like to get your end on the bargain over with now?" the Count asked politely.

"Why not? It's not like it will kill me." The last line was said as a direct challenge to the vampire, since he had agreed to the most dangerous thing a person can do when dealing with a bloodsucker.

When Van Helsing pulled a small knife from inside his coat and revealed his wrist—and the pulsing vein waiting there—Dracula's eyes lit up. But when he pulled Dracula's drinking glass over and held his wrist above it, positioning the knife to cut and spill his precious life blood, the vampire stood up.

"No, Gabriel," he instructed, moving his chair beside the monster-hunter and sitting once more in the blink of an eye. "That's not what we agreed to. I have the right to drink your blood in whichever way I desire—and it grows cold so quickly while in the crystal. Besides, you cannot mix your blood with another's…let me."

Van Helsing sent him a disbelieving look. "Do you really think I'm going to willingly let you sink your fangs into me? I may not remember dealing with vampires, but I know enough that if you bite me, I become like you."

Dracula _tsk_ed, shaking his head. "It will now be the first time I've bitten you, my friend…and it likely will not be the last. Besides, I can choose whether or not to change my victims."

"That's not what your brides said."

He chuckled. "My brides do not have the same abilities that I do. I was the first, Gabriel."

"We had an agreement, Count," he warned.

The vampire rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes, Gabriel, and you will not be harmed. You will walk out of here in the morning, smiling in the sunshine without bursting into flames—just as human as you've ever been…which really isn't all that much."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"All in good time. Now, on to my payment…"

"Don't even think about going after my throat."

The vampire frowned, sending a look of longing to the smooth column of his neck, but nodded. "If you insist…your wrist will suffice. Let me," he began, holding out a hand.

Van Helsing hesitated a moment longer before holding out his arm, offering his exposed vein to the vampire. "If this turns me into a bloodsucker like you, I swear that I will spend all of my afterlife making you regret it."

Dracula laughed once more, examining his wrist to find the best place to sink his teeth into. "Oh, ye of little faith. Believe me, I do not wish to spend the rest of _my_ afterlife stuck with you—whether we're getting along or not."

Van Helsing looked up at him, feeling offended. "You don't want to spend the rest of eternity with me?" As soon as the question left his lips, he wished he could take it back, mentally kicking himself.

Dracula looked up at him with mild surprise lighting his expression. "Would you want to spend the rest of forever with the person who'd murdered you?"

"I just said I'd stay with you if you turned me into a vampire, didn't I?"

The vampire smiled slowly. "Against my will though…to make my life a living Hell. Do not be offended, Gabriel…I do not wish to spend all of eternity with almost anyone—sometimes not even my brides."

"I'd still be sticking around," he muttered almost whining now. "And who would want to spend centuries with a bunch of crabby wives…especially if you'd give your kids life too."

"Is that not Hell enough for you, Gabriel?" he asked before laughing, real mirth in his expression for the first time in decades. "This is the Gabriel that I have missed—my friend. This Gabriel—yes, I would spend the rest of eternity with."

Van Helsing frowned in confusion. "So we really were friends? You weren't just saying that…"

He nodded in response. "We truly were—a long time ago."

"Then why would I have killed you?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"We both made mistakes, Gabriel. We were driven to things that never should have happened…and in the end; this is where we ended up."

Van Helsing was disturbed by this, knowing that he had been the murderer of someone who appeared to have once been a dear friend of his—someone he couldn't remember. Sitting with Dracula now, he couldn't sense much evil in him, and that bothered him even more. But when the vampire's attention turned back to his wrist, he stiffened up in response.

The vampire's fangs slowly descended from his gums and he leaned down. Just before his teeth touched Van Helsing's skin, he paused and looked up at him. "This will only hurt for a moment, and then the pain will be gone. It may even be pleasurable—if you let it. That's another trick I've mastered that my brides don't know about."

When Dracula's fangs pierced the skin of his wrist, he felt a sharp pain shoot up through his arm. After a moment though, the pain subsided and warmth spread through his body, leaving him feeling a little lightheaded. He was suddenly more at peace than he could ever remember feeling, more relaxed than ever before.

He watched the vampire take several long pulls from his vein, moaning a little when the blood hit his tongue, and the blissful feelings in Van Helsing grew more intense.

"I am so sorry."

Dracula was so caught off-guard by the comment that he stopped drinking and lifted his head to look at the man whose blood was even now warming his insides. He was uncertain of what the other man was apologizing for while in his drug-like state

"What is it that you're sorry for?" he asked slowly.

"For killing you." Van Helsing leaned forward. "I mean, you're one of the best guys I know…alive, dead, or undead. No one is more polite than you when you're trying to kill a person—and even when you do, it's only because you don't seem to have another choice or because you have to. That takes some class. You are a great man, Count Vladislaus Dracula—and I mean that."

Dracula chuckled even as he closed the small wounds on Van Helsing's wrist. "You will regret saying that when you're feeling more like yourself, Gabriel, my friend."

"And that's another thing! We were friends, and I murdered you! What kind of person does that make me? Well, whatever the answer is to that, it sure does make me one crappy friend—you should have just ripped my throat out!"

Dracula shrugged, releasing his arm and leaning back into his chair. "I've had many centuries to think it over, and there was fault on both sides. Killing you would not have made me feel better—I would have just lived with the guilt of knowing I'd killed my friend, who had only been doing his job."

"See! There you go again." He shook his head, as if in amazement. "I murdered you, and here you are trying to take some of the blame off me to make me feel better. You are the best friend a guy could ask for. If there is anything, anything at all, that I can do to make it up…to get back…" he trailed off, a more alert expression coming to his eyes as his sentence stuttered to an early ending.

When his now focused gaze settled back on Dracula, hands folded before him and an amused expression on his face, Van Helsing gritted his teeth.

"And there is the self-hatred for the words you uttered not moments ago." He smiled, chuckling to himself.

Van Helsing cleared his throat, shifting in his seat. "Anything I said moments ago cannot be taken seriously. I wasn't myself and I would have said anything, no matter how crazy it sounded."

"Actually, I find that people are much more truthful while under the influence of my bite," he explained with an amused grin, entertained by the way Van Helsing continued to shift uncomfortably before him.

Van Helsing was quiet for several long moments before clearing his throat again. "I kept up my end of the deal…now it's time to deliver yours…"

"And how delicious your end was…but yes, now on to the rest." Dracula leaned forward and examined Van Helsing carefully before speaking in a soft voice. "What would you like to know first, Gabriel?"

**So...I'm not sure how long ago I came up with this idea, but it was because of the scene where VH and Dracula first meet (again) and D tells him that they have "such history" but that it would be a conversation for another time. This story is based on that "another time." Right now this is only going to be a one-shot, but if enough people like it and want more (and if I can come up with another part for what all they might talk about), I may decide to make it a two-shot.**

**Anyways, let me know what you think. As always, requests for stories are welcomed and I will do my best to write them in a way that might satisfy my readers...because if it wasn't for you all, I'd have given up on writing a long time ago. You guys/gals are what keep me going and chasing after my dreams! Thanks to all of you!...and leave me a review! :D**

**DT**


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